Sterling Heights, MI Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Private residential sales commonly known as "garage sales," "yard sales," or "estate sales" involving tangible personal property, whether new, used, secondhand, damages, or discarded and not otherwise regulated, including but not limited to clothing, household effects, tools, garden implements, toys, recreation equipment, and other similar personal household property, advertised by any means whereby the public at large is made aware of such sale, are exempt from the requirements of this division so long as such sales take place at a residentially zoned property, occur less than three times per year, and occur for less than three consecutive days.

(4)   An organization or non-profit entity which is tax-exempt and tax- deductible under an IRS rule, ruling, or determination, and to which all of its secondhand items are donated without payment to the donor by the organization, is exempt from the requirements of this division.

(5)   Auctioneers and auction houses are exempt from the requirements of this division.

(6)   Individuals engaging in an incidental transaction between themselves are exempt from the requirements of this division, where neither individual engages in the transaction as part of a more frequent practice designed to produce income.

(7)   Retail merchants who repossess their own merchandise sold on a title retaining contract or chattel mortgage basis or who accept merchandise as